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Smash Comics Vol 1 32
Supporting Characters: * Sue Saunders * Bud Villains: * Baron Hoff * Syrian gangsters * Nazis Other Characters: * Locations: * * Items: * Prophetic Scroll of Hippotius Vehicles: * | Writer2_1 = Toni Blum | Penciler2_1 = Witmer Williams | Inker2_1 = Witmer Williams | StoryTitle2 = Espionage Starring Black X: "Great Arizona Desert" | Synopsis2 = | Appearing2 = Featured Characters: * Supporting Characters: * * Colonel Atwater Villains: * Nazis Other Characters: * Locations: * Items: * Vehicles: * | Writer3_1 = Robert Turner | Penciler3_1 = Jim Mooney | Inker3_1 = Jim Mooney | StoryTitle3 = Wildfire: "The Murderous Frog of the Mardi Gras" | Synopsis3 = After getting booted out of the Army, for cowardice and theft, Froggy Miller adopts a frog-themed costume and embarks on a life of crime, striking first during the Mardi Gras Parade in New Orleans. He murders Mr. Meredith, the local Veteran’s Legion Post Commander, with an oversized, needle-sharp, barbed, frog-gigging stick, thrown with deadly accuracy. Wildfire is at the parade, and flies in pursuit of Froggy, whose weapons are useless against her flame shield. She corners him in a hotel hallway but there is a firehose mounted on the wall, and Froggy buys himself a few seconds by hosing her down, then fleeing down a stairway. On the way he encounters three cops, leaps into them, and steals a pistol from one, then he’s gone. One Legionnaire from the parade thinks he knows who it was, and names Froggy Miller. That night Wildfire stakes out the hotel where most of the Veteran’s Legion members are staying, and she spots Froggy sneaking down a hallway, but Froggy’s henchmen have also arrived, and it turns out that stealth and chloroform are effective against Wildfire. While Froggy commits a series of murders upstairs (five of them), in the basement, Froggy’s henchmorons decide to kill Wildfire by tossing her into a furnace. That backfires on them, and they receive a beating from Wildfire, who then flies upstairs and catches Froggy in the middle of murder attempt number (at least) six, beats him up, and leaves him for the police, pinned to the wall with his own eccentric weapon. | Appearing3 = Featured Characters: * Supporting Characters: * Villains: * The Frog Other Characters: * Locations: * ** Date: * 17 February 1942 Vehicles: * | Writer4_1 = Paul Gustavson | Penciler4_1 = Paul Gustavson | Inker4_1 = Paul Gustavson | Letterer4_1 = Paul Gustavson | StoryTitle4 = The Jester: "The Body Snatcher" | Synopsis4 = | Appearing4 = Featured Characters: * Supporting Characters: * Detective McGinty Villains: * Doc Reinhart * Sarcoris Other Characters: * Locations: * Items: * Vehicles: * | Writer5_1 = | Penciler5_1 = Alex Blum | Inker5_1 = Alex Blum | StoryTitle5 = The Purple Trio: "The Botanical Gardens" | Synopsis5 = | Appearing5 = Featured Characters: * The Purple Trio ** Tiny Todd ** Warren ** Rocky Hill Supporting Characters: * Villains: * Other Characters: * Locations: * Items: * Vehicles: * | Writer6_1 = Jack Cole | Penciler6_1 = Jack Cole | Inker6_1 = Jack Cole | Colourist6_1 = | Letterer6_1 = | StoryTitle6 = Midnight: "War Over Iceland!" | Synopsis6 = | Appearing6 = Featured Characters: * Supporting Characters: * Doc Wackey * Gabby the monkey Villains: * ** Hienrich ** von Kamp ** Hans Other Characters: * Locations: * Items: * Wackey's Atom Reviser Machine Vehicles: * | Writer7_1 = | Penciler7_1 = George Brenner | Inker7_1 = George Brenner | StoryTitle7 = Bozo the Robot: "Defense Plant Explosions" | Synopsis7 = | Appearing7 = Featured Characters: * * Supporting Characters: * Villains: * Other Characters: * Locations: * Items: * Vehicles: * | Writer8_1 = Vernon Henkel | Penciler8_1 = Vernon Henkel | Inker8_1 = Vernon Henkel | StoryTitle8 = Wings Wendall: "Red Menace Is Alive!" | Synopsis8 = | Appearing8 = Featured Characters: * Supporting Characters: * Villains: * Other Characters: * Locations: * Incomplete Tunnel beneath the Pacific Ocean Items: * Vehicles: * | Writer9_1 = Art Pinajian | Penciler9_1 = Art Pinajian | Inker9_1 = Art Pinajian | StoryTitle9 = Invisible Justice: "Waxman" | Synopsis9 = The Giant Eastern Steel plant works round the clock, and several officials and industrialists, including Kent Thurston, are being toured through the place by the Superintendent. Meanwhile Waxman, Roxi, Rollins, and several other saboteurs have already infiltrated the plant's work force. One of them is careless with an uncoded message, and Thurston figures out that something is wrong. He gets invisible, and looks around. Around midnight, the Invisible Hood spots a rifleman in the upper catwalks, and attacks him, but by wildly swinging his rifle around, the gunman, Rollins, knocks him reeling invisibly backwards. The rifleman then shoots a crane operator, causing a ladle full of molten metal to pour out onto the factory floor! Waxman the foreign agent leaps up and yells at the scattering workers, spreading rumors and fomenting rebellion, and quickly persuades a number of them to walk off the job right then and there. Meanwhile on the high catwalk, the Invisible Hood regathers his wits, and re-attacks the rifleman, this time punching him over the handrail, to his death. Hood grabs the rifle and uses it to get Wasman's undivided attention, in front of an audience of factory hands, and they converse. Waxman completely panics and runs away, gets into his own car, and drives directly to his hide-out. The rest of the gang is inside, and once they are all together, the Invisible Hood, using Rollins' rifle, and some invisible fisticuffs, subdues the gang. | Appearing9 = Featured Characters: * Villains: * Waxman, saboteur ** Rollins, sniper ** at least four other henchmen: Roxi, etc. Other Characters: * Superintendent White * Sam, Crane Operator Locations: * Giant Eastern Steel mill Vehicles: * Wasman's Sedan | Writer10_1 = | Penciler10_1 = Arthur Peddy | Inker10_1 = Arthur Peddy | StoryTitle10 = Rookie Rankin: "Tis an ill and cold wind" | Synopsis10 = | Appearing10 = Featured Characters: * Rookie Rankin Supporting Characters: * Sgt. Burns * Pat Villains: * Other Characters: * Locations: * Items: * Vehicles: * | Notes = * Black X wears his monocle in his right eye; this issue's cover has it in his left eye. * Invisible Justice: ** This is the final appearance of the Golden Age Invisible Hood. ** Kent Thurston kills one more villain in this final story. ** This Quality Universe character had an Earth-Two counterpart Kent Thurston, who participated in Uncle Sam's Freedom Fighters and fought alongside other Quality heroes during the Pearl Harbor attack. ** His feature would be replaced in this anthology title by The Marksman by Ed Cronin and Alex Koda. * Wildfire: ** This issue's Wildfire story, set during Mardi Gras, takes place on Shrove Tuesday, 17 February 1942. ** Froggy Miller might or might not be alive at the end of the story. The final panel is ambiguous; Froggy might be pinned by his costume, or he might be dead. * Wings Wendall's villain, "Red Menace", is Japanese. * This issue of Smash Comics also featured: ** Archie O'Toole: "Bus Stop- No Parking", by John Devlin ** Wun Cloo by Jack Cole ** "Flight To the Unknown" (text story, featuring Jimmy Christian) | Trivia = * Lou Fine signed his work on The Ray as "E. Lectron". * Alex Blum signed his work on Purple Trio as "S.M. Regi". * Art Pinajian signed his work on Invisible Justice as "Art Gordon". * Jack Cole signed his work on Wun Cloo as "Ralph Johns". * George Brenner signed his work on Bozo the Robot as "Wayne Reid". | Recommended = * "The Murderous Frog of Mardi Gras" and "War Over Iceland!!!" are both reprinted in The Quality Companion (TwoMorrows Publishing, 2011). | Links = }}